dge. The batteries of Maney, Graves, and
Porter poured in their fire; the divisions of Pillow and Buckner
aided--some regiments at a halt firing, but Buckner's advancing.
Forrest's cavalry hovered on the outskirts. Wallace gave the command to
fall back. McAllister had not horses left to haul off his three
howitzers, and had to leave two. The order did not reach the Eleventh
Illinois. The rest of the command fell back in regular order, and the
Eleventh and Thirty-first continued fighting. Colonel Logan, of the
Thirty-first, was wounded; the lieutenant-colonel was killed. Thirty
others were killed. The ranks were thinned by the wounded who had fallen
and been carried off the field. Ammunition was gone. Logan told
Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom, of the Eleventh Illinois, who, having had his
wound dressed, had returned to his regiment, that the Thirty-first must
leave, and suggested that the Eleventh should take the position left by
the Thirty-first. The Thirty-first marched steadily from the field, and
the Eleventh, alone now, faced to the rear, wheeled to the left, and
continued the fight. But, assailed on both flanks as well as in front,
and finally charged by the cavalry, it was broken, and fell back in
disorder. The brigade fell back half a mile.

Fugitives from the front passed by General Lewis Wallace, who was
conversing with Captain Rawlins, General Grant's assistant
adjutant-general. Among them a mounted officer galloped down the road,
shouting, "We are cut to pieces." General Wallace at once ordered
Colonel Thayer's brigade to the front. Marching by the flank, they soon
met portions of Oglesby's and Colonel Wallace's brigades retiring from
the field. They all stated they were out of ammunition. Thayer's brigade
passed on at a double-quick. Position was taken; a battery, Company A,
Chicago Light Artillery, commanded by Captain Wood, was posted across
the road; to its right, the First Nebraska and Fifty-eighth Illinois; to
the left, the Fifty-eighth Ohio and a company of the Thirty-second
Illinois. The Seventy-sixth Ohio and Forty-sixth and Fifty-seventh
Illinois were posted in reserve. As soon as this line was formed,
interposed between the enemy and the retiring regiments, they halted and
waited for ammunition. The line was scarcely formed before a force,
coming up the road and through the forest, made a fierce attack. The
assault was vigorous. The line remained steady, and, with fire
deliberate and well aimed, quickly